Petes’ teams reach Icefest quarterfinals
The Peterborough Rehill Building Supplies major bantam AAA Petes can build off their Boston Pizza Icefest results, says their new coach.
The Petes finished first in pool play with a 4-0 record before losing 2-1 in overtime in the quarterfinal of the three-division, fourday tournament to the Clarington Toros Saturday night at the Evinrude Centre. All three Minor Petes teams, the major peewees and minor bantams reached the playoffs only to lose in the quarterfinals.
The major bantams capped off pool play Saturday with a 5-1 win over the Cambridge Hawks to finish with the most goals for led by Jack Falkner’s eight points in four games.
“We played pretty well against Clarington and I thought out played them for most of the second half and overtime,” said Seamus McDougall, who took over as major bantam coach this season from Marc Savard. “In overtime anything can happen. It was kind of an unlucky goal, it went off a skate and in, but that’s a typical overtime goal where you get pucks to the net and anything can happen. I thought we had a pretty good weekend being a goal away from the semifinals.”
They reached the final of an earlybird tournament in Ottawa last month and are 3-4-2 in league play. McDougall thought the weekend was a step forward for his group which missed the playoffs last season.
“We came in with a fresh start,” said McDougall. “We didn’t care where kids played last year. If they worked hard and deserved to be here we were taking them. I’ve been really impressed with the kids’ work ethic. Right from day one in tryouts everyone worked hard and has earned their spots. This group is really close and they like to have fun and do a lot as a team.”
The Guelph Gryphons won the division beating Central Ontario Wolves 5-1 in the final at the Memorial Centre on Sunday.
The Drain Brothers minor bantam Petes finished pool play with a 3-0-1 record by beating Ottawa Myers 4-3 Saturday morning. They fell in the quarter-finals 5-1 to Sudbury’s Nickel City Sons. The Waterloo Wolves won the division beating the Ottawa Jr. 67’s 4-2 in the final.
The Billy Smith Sells peewee Petes finished their pool play 3-1-0 with a 4-2 win over the North Central Predators. They lost 5-1 to the Upper Canada Cyclones in the quarter-finals. Upper Canada beat the Rochester Monarchs 3-2 in the championship game.